The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems, and more particularly to a system for characterizing and controlling fans in an information handling system.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems such as, for example, servers, sometimes include a server chassis that houses the components of the server that may include computing components, cooling components, power components, and/or a variety of other components known in the art. In many cases, the server chassis may be configured to utilize fans and fan systems from different vendors for continuity of supply, to provide different cooling capabilities that enable varying levels of performance, and/or to enable other functionality of the server. In order to allow the utilization of different fans and fan systems, a number of fan-specific dependencies must be compensated for that require knowledge of characteristics of the fans and fan systems. Conventionally, such fan characteristics are defined in firmware lookup tables, which require either knowledge of each fan or fan system that may be utilized in the server chassis, either included in the server as manufactured, or updated via firmware updates provided to the server. However, it is impossible to account for future fans or fan systems during manufacture of the server, and it has been found that many users are hesitant to update firmware once the server has been deployed and is operating correctly due to the possibility of introducing new-firmware-related performance issues that can cause server downtime. One solution to this issue is to provide “smart fan” systems that store their fan characteristics and provide those fan characteristics to the system to allow the system to account for different fans. However, such solutions add cost and complexity to the system, and thus are not viable in many instances.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved fan characterization and control system.